Introduction to the December 29th Movement

The 129th Movement, also known as the 129th Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Movement. On December 9, 1935, thousands of students in Peiping held an anti-Japanese and national salvation march to oppose North China’s autonomy, resist Japanese imperialism, and demand the maintenance of China Territorial integrity set off a new upsurge in the country's resistance to Japan and national salvation. On December 12, students in Peiping held their fifth demonstration, chanting slogans such as "Resist the War and Aid Suiyuan" and "Unite all parties." This is a large-scale student patriotic movement led by the Communist Party of China. On December 16, over the planned establishment of the "Hebei-Cha Administrative Committee", more than 10,000 students and people from all walks of life in Peiping held a demonstration, forcing the establishment of the Hebei-Cha Administrative Committee to be postponed. After that, Tianjin students formed a propaganda group to expand southward and went deep into the people to promote anti-Japanese and national salvation. Demonstrations were held in Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai and other places. The patriotic actions of Peiping students won the response of students and the support of the people across the country, forming a new upsurge in the people's anti-Japanese democratic movement and promoting the establishment of the anti-Japanese national united front. The December 9th Movement publicly exposed the Japanese imperialist conspiracy to invade China and annex North China, attacked the Kuomintang government's policy of compromise and surrender, and greatly promoted the awakening of the Chinese people. Cooperated with the Red Army to go north to resist Japan and promoted domestic peace and the Anti-Japanese War. It marked the arrival of a new upsurge in the Chinese people's anti-Japanese democratic movement. As Mao Zedong pointed out, the December 9th Movement "was a movement to mobilize resistance against Japan, prepare ideas and cadres, and mobilize the entire nation." It "has great historical significance." After the September 18th Incident, Japanese imperialism stepped up its aggression against China. While promoting colonial rule in the Northeast, they took advantage of the non-resistance of the Nanjing National Government to extend their invasion to North China step by step. The national crisis became increasingly serious. In North China, there is no room for a quiet desk. In May and June of 1935, the Japanese invaders conspired to cause trouble in Tianjin and Hebei, and threatened the Nanjing National Government with force to accept the "Hemei Agreement" and the "Qintu Agreement", which included Pingjin, Hebei, and Chacha. Most of the sovereignty of the two provinces of Har was ceded to Japan. After that, the Japanese imperialists actively launched the so-called "anti-Japanese autonomy movement" in the five provinces of North China, planned to establish a puppet regime under their direct control, and carried out a comprehensive political, military, economic, and cultural invasion of North China. "North China is too big to hold a quiet desk", which aroused great indignation among people from all walks of life in Peiping. When the claws of Japanese imperialism extended to the land of North China, the Chinese Communists issued a call to the working people to resist aggression and defend North China. In 1935, the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China issued multiple notices and declarations, requiring party organizations at all levels in North China to widely publicize among the masses, carry out the struggle to resist Japan and save the nation, reorganize the leadership in Peiping, and strengthen the struggle to resist Japan and save the nation politically and organizationally. Movement leadership. In November, under the leadership of Zhou, Gu Jingsheng, Yao Yilin and others, Beiping junior high school students established the "Beiping Student Union", with female middle school student Guo as the chairman and Yao Yilin as the secretary-general. The Beijing Municipal Working Committee of the Communist Party of China established a party group in the Federation of Students, with Peng Tao as secretary. On December 6, 1935, the Peking Student Federation held a representative meeting and adopted and announced the "Declaration of the Establishment of the Peking Student Federation". Immediately, 15 universities and middle schools in Pingjin jointly issued a statement to oppose the "anti-Japanese autonomy", demanding that the government punish the traitor Yin Rugeng and mobilize the people of the country to resist Japan. On this day, the news came that under the pressure of the Japanese invaders, the "Jicha Administrative Committee" would be established on December 9, which shocked the majority of students and progressive people from all walks of life. On Morality

Nearly a thousand patriotic students from Tsinghua University and Yenching University stayed away from the city. When they arrived at Xizhimen, the city gate had been closed by military police and the petition team was unable to enter the city. Two students from the school held a mass meeting in the Xizhimen area to publicize the anti-Japanese movement to nearby residents and police officers guarding the city. At 10:30 a.m., a petition team of more than a thousand people from more than ten schools including China University, Peking Normal University, and Northeastern University gathered in front of Xinhua Gate. Xinhua Gate was closed tightly, and police cars and motorcycles with loaded ammunition were lined up in front of the gate. The armed police officers were murderous. The petitioners held high flags and slogans and chanted slogans of resisting Japan and saving the country. Twelve representatives including Dong Yuhua and Yu Gang met with He and raised six demands including opposing the establishment of the North China Anti-Japanese Autonomous Committee, stopping the civil war, and immediately releasing arrested students. At 11 o'clock in the morning, He's secretary Hou Cheng came out to meet the students. He was perfunctory and prevaricated about the students' demands, and tried every means to justify the Kuomintang's compromise with Japan and its internal anti-Japanese policy. Students were furious at their response, chanting "Down with the traitors" and "If the petition fails, we will demonstrate." Song Li was elected as the commander-in-chief of the military parade.

When the parade arrived near the Pingjin Police Headquarters at Xidan Archway, it was blocked and attacked by military police. The students were not afraid of violence, chanted slogans of resisting Japan and saving the nation, and continued to move forward. The team grew stronger and stronger. Wu He, a professor at Peking University and a professor at China University who was teaching at Yenching University at the time, and his wife also participated in the demonstration. Reporters from many domestic and foreign newspapers accompanied the interview. By the time the parade passed through Xisi, Huguo Temple, Di'anmen and the beach and reached Wangfujing Street, it had expanded to four to five thousand people. The south entrance of Wangfujing Street was full of military police, wielding whips and sticks, and violently beat unarmed patriotic students. Students clashed with military police and dozens of people were arrested on the spot. The demonstration was dispersed under a bloody crackdown by the Kuomintang authorities. The surging wave of national salvation and the anti-Japanese roar of "December 9" shocked the ancient capital of Peiping, and soon spread throughout the world. The Beijing Provisional Working Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Beijing Federation of Students made a timely summary and made arrangements for the next steps. On December 11, students from all universities in the city went on strike. The Kuomintang authorities were extremely alarmed by the patriotic actions of the students in Peiping. They ordered a strict ban on the students' patriotic actions and sent military police to blockade some key schools. But the anti-Japanese fire of patriotic students cannot be extinguished. The Provisional Working Committee of the Communist Party of China in Peiping learned that despite strong opposition from the broad masses of the people, the Kuomintang authorities decided to establish the "Jicha Administrative Committee" on December 16 and decided to hold a larger demonstration on this day . On the morning of December 16, more than 10,000 patriotic students in Peiping took to the streets one after another, and a massive anti-Japanese and national salvation march broke out. The demonstrators were divided into four groups, led by Northeastern University, China University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University respectively, and marched in different directions. On the way, they broke through the military and police blockade and finally met at the overpass. At 11 a.m., patriotic students in Peiping and more than 30,000 workers, farmers, and citizens held a town meeting on the Tianqiao. Flags were flying at the venue, "Down with Japanese imperialism!" "Down with the traitors and traitors!" "Oppose the establishment of the Jicha Management Committee!" Slogans resounded throughout the sky. After the public rally, more than 10,000 patriotic students marched in front of the gate. The students held hands, kept shouting slogans of resisting Japan and saving the country, and distributed leaflets to citizens and pedestrians on both sides of the street. Citizens enthusiastically supported the students' patriotic actions. Some brought boiled water and food, and some volunteered to join the parade. When the team arrived

After several negotiations, the military and police agreed to open the city gate to let students from other schools enter the city, on the condition that the teams from Tsinghua University and Yenching University were withdrawn first. It was already past 9pm. When the teams from the two schools left, all the street lights outside the city were turned off. A large number of military police armed with knives and sticks rushed at the students from all directions, and many of them were severely beaten. Students entering the city through the front gate wanted to meet them at Xuanwumen. When they arrived at the west entrance of Maoxian Hutong in Xidan, they were beaten by a large number of military police and dozens of students were slashed. The streets were stained with blood and horrific. During the "1216" demonstration, 22 students in the city were arrested and more than 300 people were injured, once again exposing the brutal face of the reactionary authorities. Supporting patriotic students in Peiping The patriotic struggle of Peking students dampened the arrogance of Japanese imperialism, exposed the traitorous behavior of the Kuomintang authorities, won the support and response of patriotic people from all walks of life, and promoted the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement. On December 18, the presidents of six universities including Peking University and Tsinghua University jointly requested the release of the arrested students. On the same day, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions urgently called on workers across the country to help students save the country, and workers across the country went on strike to support the student struggle. On the 20th, the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League issued a declaration calling on young students to go deep into the workers and peasants and expand the anti-Japanese and national salvation movement. Various social organizations have issued messages of strength and declarations to support the patriotic movement of Peiping students. Well-known patriotic figures such as Song Qingling, Lu Xun, Ma Shen, Shen Junru, Wang Zaoshi, Zou Taofen, Tao Xingzhi, Zhang Naiqi, and Shi Liang expressed their support. Soong Ching Ling sent more than 100 yuan from Shanghai to the Peking Student Federation as expenses for the anti-Japanese and national salvation work. On the night of December 18th to 19th, Lu Xun wrote an article praising the heroic fighting spirit of patriotic students, with the ardent hope that "where the stone is, the fire will never be extinguished." On December 26, people from all walks of life in the Shaanxi-Gansu Soviet Area held a rally in support of the students’ anti-Japanese and national salvation movement in Peking. Influenced by the Peking student patriotic movement, students across the country responded one after another. For a time, on both sides of the Yellow River, in the north and south of the river, the horns of anti-Japanese and national salvation resounded in all directions. After two demonstrations, the Peking Student Union, under the leadership of the party, established a propaganda group, which expanded southward and penetrated into factories and rural areas, mobilizing workers, peasants and soldiers from all over the country to carry out the anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang struggle, and also provided training and education for patriotic students.

In 1936, the Southern Expansion Propaganda Group held a member congress in Peking and formally established the National Liberation Vanguard, an advanced youth organization established under the leadership of the party. Its birth and development greatly promoted the in-depth development of the 129th Movement. Under the leadership and call of the Communist Party of China, the "December 9" movement initiated by patriotic students in Peking quickly swept across the country, greatly promoting the awakening of the Chinese people and marking the arrival of a new upsurge in the Chinese people's anti-Japanese democratic movement.